Difficult Jewish Texts and Contemporary Political Crisis
This essay considers the phenomenon of public Jewish biblical quotation, such as, for instance, “justice, justice shall you pursue,” in times of contemporary political crisis. I argue that these references tend to employ a sanitized and selective hermeneutics which overlooks and bypasses the violent...
| Published in: | Religions |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
MDPI
2023
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| In: |
Religions
Year: 2023, Volume: 14, Issue: 5 |
| Further subjects: | B
Interpretation of
B Hebrew Bible B political crisis B Hermeneutics |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | This essay considers the phenomenon of public Jewish biblical quotation, such as, for instance, “justice, justice shall you pursue,” in times of contemporary political crisis. I argue that these references tend to employ a sanitized and selective hermeneutics which overlooks and bypasses the violent or otherwise “difficult” themes of these works and suggest that there is a parallel between our refusal to come to terms with the frequent violence in many texts, and our inability to acknowledge the intensity and scope of the “real world” crises we employ these texts to respond to. Delving into the complex biblical narrative of Korach as an example, I propose that particular attention to difficult texts invites Jewish communities not only to confront the darker parts of the textual tradition, but also provides a communal model for acknowledging the true depths of a crisis, textual or political, instead of turning quickly to palliative solutions. |
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| ISSN: | 2077-1444 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religions
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.3390/rel14050652 |